31 March 2010

New York School District Settles Anti-Gay Bullying Case

You may recall the January story of the 15-year-old gay Mohawk, NY high school student and his father, who along with the New York Civil Liberties Union, sued the teen's high school after it refused to address repeated harassment and homophobic bullying from classmates. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division made a surprise in intervention on behalf of the teen. The Central Mohawk School District has settled the lawsuit and agrees to protect gay and gender-nonconforming students from harassment.

"The settlement includes the school district consenting to numerous policy changes," The Advocate reports. "Including increased training for school officials and oversight by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented the student involved in the lawsuit. The ninth-grade student—who has since transferred to another school in another district—complained to school officials about harassment and discrimination related to his perceived sexual orientation. He claims his complaints went unaddressed by the school district."

In what was described as "a novel interpretation of the Title IX statute, which prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of gender", the United States Department of Justice filed a motion to intervene on behalf of the student. That motion was apparently "the first time in almost a decade" that DoJ intervened in a gay rights lawsuit, NPR reported.